Egyptian private sector rejects all forms of normalization with Tel-Aviv

Arab News
13 April 2002

Egyptian businessmen and financiers have expressed their total willingness to accept any government decision calling for an economic boycott of Israel, el Arabi newspaper reported yesterday.

The businessmen also confirmed their commitment to continue rejecting any form of normalisation of economic or trade ties with the Jewish State, the daily economic newspaper said.

Mohammed Farid Khamis, head of the 10th of Ramadan Industrial City's Investors' Association, said that international treaties, like the Egyptian Israeli peace agreement, are binding and it takes a long time and elaborate measures to dissolve or rescind them.

However, these treaties do not commit businessmen of the signatory nations towards closer cooperative ties and, consequently, they are absolutely free to make whatever decisions that serve their national interests, he said.

The Egyptian private sector cannot tolerate Israel any more because of the horrible crimes being committed by Sharon against the Palestinians, he added.

"Israel should be treated in the same way that it treats the Palestinians. The Jewish state should be isolated completely and full economic sanctions must be imposed on it," Khamis told the paper.

In the meantime, the Egyptian private sector has prepared huge consignments of urgent relief aid and medical supplies to be sent to the besieged Palestinians through the Red Cross and other international organisations, he said.

"But the Israelis have refused entry to these consignments for the Palestinian people who need them badly."

In a prompt response to this brutality, Khamis said, Egyptian manufacturers have decided to sever all trade transactions with Israel and to stop importing components or industrial commodities from international companies in which Israel is a partner.

He also said that the Egyptian private sector has taken the initiative by calling for the formation of an international tribunal to try the Israeli prime minister and his army commanders for committing war crimes.

The current deplorable situation in the region proves that Israel is a racist and expansionist state that does not want peace and applies ethnic cleansing policies, Khamis said.

He called on Egyptian expatriate businessmen to launch an active media campaign to expose Israel's barbaric practices against the Palestinians in all business and economic circles overseas.

In a related development, the head of the Egyptian Importers' Association told Al-Arabi that the association has adopted a set of punitive measures against Israel.

"The measures incorporate an immediate halt to all import dealings with Israeli companies, as well as international firms in which the Jewish State is a partner," Moustafa Zaky told the paper.

"If any importer is found guilty of dealing with Israel, his company name will be immediately struck off the association's register without a warrant and the firm's name will be made public, so that people will refrain from buying his goods," Zaky said.

"It is quite illegal and unjust to import goods from a country like Israel that kills unarmed women and children," he added.

The chambers of commerce and importers associations of Arab and Muslim nations should convene an emergency conference to declare a boycott of all goods imported from the United States or any other Western country that supports Israel, he suggested.

Ahmed Arafa, a garment industry tycoon, told the paper that all Egyptian investors and factory owners would fully support any action that the government decides to take against Israel.